• Michael Symon cooked some pork and beans. The very first dish! He asked a viewer why it was delicious, and the viewer responded, “...it’s just so delicious.”

• Dr. Oz showed up and told embarrassing stories about his daughter Daphne Oz. Here's a sample. On blueberries: “See how blue they are? That was the color Daphne was when she was born. She had the cord stuck around her neck." To which Clinton Kelly replied, “She was like Angry Smurf!”

• Mario Batali skipped the first 50 minutes or so, puttering around on a golf course for charity. He awkwardly made some pizza via satellite.

And here, the media chews up the show:

“It's safe to say everything will be adored and applauded here, even when Batali's pizza clearly has a burned crust.” — NY Daily News

“It's like one of those joke-y late-night-talk-show cooking segments, except it isn't funny and it lasts an entire hour.” — Grub Street

“‘The Chew’ has your standard dump-and-stir cooking demos, tips on entertaining and a mundane rehashing of food-related 'news.'... Attempts to make food accessible to the masses often came off as patronizing.” — Chicago Sun-Times

“I’m overwhelmed by the pace of content and the multiple personalities trying to have a voice and conduct segments. And it’s a shame that some of the brightest personalities fall to the background as a result.” — PopWatch/EW